PennDOT District 5-0 is currently in the Final Design phase of this betterment project involving roadway resurfacing and intersection improvements to provide safe and efficient travel along this section of SR 0309, from Walbert Avenue to Shankweiler Road, in North and South Whitehall Townships, Lehigh County, PA.
The 2.9-mile corridor had varying shoulder widths created safety issues, as did limited pedestrian accommodations. Traffic volumes with traffic signal constraints resulted in peak period movement delays. The project includes roadway widening to provide turning lanes at signalized intersections, roadway realignment of offset intersections, traffic signal upgrades, sidewalks, ADA ramps, guiderail upgrades, and drainage improvements.
NTM Staff (formerly Lotus Environmental Consulting) completed various environmental tasks for the corridor during the preliminary engineering phase, including: wetlands and waters identifications and delineations, above ground historic property investigations and preparation Historic Resource Survey Forms and Determinations of Eligibility, Phase I archaeological site identification and Phase II Eligibility investigations, two Section 4(f) /Section 2002 Historic Property evaluations, one Section 4(f)/Section 2002 DeMinimis evaluation for a recreation area/township-owned greenway, Phase I Bog Turtle Habitat assessment, Phase I ESA hazardous/residual waste investigation, and Section 6(f) coordination. We also prepared the Level 1B Categorical Exclusion.
The bulk of the environmental field investigations occurred prior to 2020; however, Section 4(f) outreach and coordination efforts and the preparation of the NEPA document were conducted during the extremely new and challenging remote working conditions during the COVID-19 shut down. Our staff coordinated closely with the District CRPs and project designers to avoid or minimize effects to historic properties to obtain No Adverse Effect or No Effect findings and help expedite the review process and allowed our staff to successfully deliver an approved NEPA document on time and our project within budget.
